Sep 18, 2010

Berean Reader: "The Jesus Storybook Bible"

This is hopefully the first of many posts reviewing books for kids and mamas.

I'm currently reading through this book cover-to-cover with my kiddos. I thought it would take weeks, but we have flown through it, simply because they love the stories SO much!

It's not really a Bible, granted. But Jones' retelling of Biblical stories retains the accuracy of the actual text while at the same time having a fresh, light-hearted flavor. Not at all stuffy like some children's books, and not silly like so many others! I have generally found the text of children's Bibles to be boring and too difficult, or just dumbed down so much, there is no point to the story left. This one rises above all the others I've ever seen!

Here's a peek into our favorite story, "The Boy Who Ran Away" (otherwise known as the parable of the prodigal son). Don't you just love the illustrations!!!

The best thing about this book, I think, is that every 2-3 page story ends with a poetic, creative link between the actual story and the person of Jesus, and his death on the cross as the ultimate act of God's love. What a great premise for a children's book!

Jesus met some people called Pharisees, who were all about reading scripture and figuring out how to give an impressive performance of what they read, rather than tasting God's love and kindness towards them. He told them, "You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness about me." (John 5:39) This book does a great job of clearly pointing to Jesus through every story, as opposed to just giving a moral lesson. The author also really pulls out the most important themes of the Bible as a whole, as opposed to presenting the Bible as a random collection of odd stories.

For an extra $5, I ordered the "deluxe" edition, which includes the storybook, plus audio readings of all the stories by David Suchet. It's worth the $5! We love to read it out loud and listen to the CDs too!